


I Dreamed a Dance

by Ashtiel



Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: 1940s - Present, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-24
Updated: 2015-04-24
Packaged: 2018-03-25 11:34:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3808882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashtiel/pseuds/Ashtiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky always knew that Steve would find him. It just took a lot longer than he expected.</p><p>"Bucky saw that he was leaving a crimson trail behind him, and he was glad. Maybe Steve would be able to follow it and find him. He always found him."</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Dreamed a Dance

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from the Next to Normal song of the same name.

The grey sky seemed so close that Bucky wanted to reach up and touch it. But he couldn’t move his arms. Snowflakes drifted down and settled on his wet skin. He couldn’t move anything but his eyelids. He stared up at the sky and wondered why he couldn’t feel his body. Gradually, he became aware of a noise. A river. It was close. As close as the sky. If he could only move his arms, he could touch it.

Bucky closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, it was dark. The moon flirted with the clouds, disappearing and then reappearing, over and over. Bucky closed his eyes again.

He still couldn’t move. In between sullen clouds, he could see blue skies. Blue. Blue like Steve’s suit, like his eyes. And just like that, Steve was kneeling down at his side with a gentle smile. “Buck,” he said as he reached down to touch Bucky’s face. Bucky tried to lean up into Steve’s hand, but he couldn’t move, and then Steve was gone, only to reappear a few seconds later at his feet.

“Oh Buck,” Steve said, “what’ve you done to yourself?”

Steve came and went through the rest of the day. He never stayed in one place or touched him, but he was there, and it made things okay even if Bucky couldn’t move or feel his body. Steve always made everything okay.

Steve was sitting beside him, looking up at the moon when they came. Bucky tried to say something, anything, but Steve looked down at him, smiled his dimpled smile, and was gone. Bucky wanted to scream until he came back, but the men took him. Bucky saw that he was leaving a crimson trail behind him, and he was glad. Maybe Steve would be able to follow it and find him. He always found him.

* * *

 

The Winter Soldier stalked back into the sterile laboratory, the blood of his last mark on his hands and in between his metal joints. He was bathed in it. His scientists started when they saw him, but quickly shoved him into The Room. The Soldier let them strap him into a chair.

A warm smile danced in front of his eyes and The Soldier was confused. None of the scientists were smiling. But still, he could see one. It was familiar to him. He grunted as a scientist yanked the strap across his injured chest into place.

“Good job, Soldier,” a gruff man with a bushy mustache said. He clapped Bucky on the metal arm, and a clang echoed around the room. One scientist dropped his clipboard and scrambled to recover it. Bucky watched him detachedly. The smile was distracting.

“Do we really need to wipe him?” one scientist, a small woman, said. She was tired; the dark circles under her eyes made her weak. “We just did it last week.”

The man with the mustache practically growled at her. “Of course you have to wipe him. Do you remember what happened last time you were lazy? He killed a fourth of the staff trying to escape. His memories are too dangerous.” The man spit. “Wipe him.”

A scientist pulled a lever and two circles clamped onto the sides of The Soldier’s head. He glimpsed warm blue eyes, but they melted into excruciating sparks. The Soldier screamed.

* * *

 

“Buck? Bucky?”

Bucky swung and his fist connected with something solid and warm. Someone grabbed his wrist, and he fought harder, but he was hugged to a warm chest. “Buck! Bucky, it’s me! Everything’s okay! You’re safe, Buck. You’re safe.”

A bead of sweat dripped down Bucky’s face. He slowly opened his eyes. They met wide blue ones. He blinked. They blinked.

“Bucky?” A whisper.

Bucky relaxed in Steve’s arms, but he couldn’t stop the tremors that wracked his body.

“Shh, shh,” Steve said as he rubbed the back of Bucky’s neck with his thumb. “It’s alright Buck, I’ve got you.”

“I thought I was There,” Bucky said, his voice low. Wrecked.

“I know.” Steve held him tighter.

They stayed like that for most of an hour, until the shaking stopped and Bucky could breathe again. Moonlight slipped through their flimsy curtains and dripped onto the bedroom floor. It was still late.

“Sorry,” Buffy huffed, still sandwiched to Steve’s chest, his metal arm pressed to warm flesh.

Steve brushed Bucky’s hair out of his eyes and smiled his heartwarming smile at him. “I like waking up in the middle of the night because it feels so good when I get to go back to bed.”

“You’re so stupid,” Bucky said.

Steve grinned. Moonlight caught the edge of his jaw and Bucky saw the purple bruise blooming along the edge of it like a rare night flower. He reached up to touch it, wincing when he saw just how big it was.

Steve caught his hand. “Hey,” he said, serious again. “It’s no big deal.”

“I hit you.”

“It wasn’t you.”

Buck rolled his eyes. “Let me guess. It was The Soldier.”

“It was.”

“You’re so full of shit,” Bucky said. He threw himself back onto the bed and pillows scattered around him.

Suddenly, Steve was looming above him, his blue eyes practically glowing in the dim light of the moon. Bucky looked up at him and softened. Those damned blue eyes could get him to do anything. Sensing that he’d won the war, Steve slipped back under the covers and nuzzled Bucky’s hair with his nose.

Bucky sighed and turned back toward Steve.

They fell asleep with their legs tangled together and their lips only a breath apart.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This is my first attempt at Stucky fanfic, so please feel free to leave constructive criticism. Have a great day!


End file.
